Shakespeare’s First Folio: Four Centuries of an Iconic Book by Emma Smith

Shakespeare’s First Folio: Four Centuries of an Iconic Book by Emma Smith

The first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays was printed in 1623 and known simply as the First Folio. Emma Smith’s biography begins with the story of its first purchaser in London in December 1623, and goes on to explore the ways people have interacted with this iconic book over the four hundred years since. Smith offers up new ways to understand Shakespeare's reception and the history of the book through close attention to the details of the individual copies now located around the world - their bindings, marginalia, general condition, sales history, and location - and discussion of five major themes: owning, reading, decoding, performing, and perfecting. A charming and enlightening account of the book that consolidated Shakespeare's posthumous reputation, and the book through which we understand and recognize Shakespeare.

Published by Oxford University Press

Hardback

ISBN 9780192886644